Review: Pieces of Me, gripping performance, beautiful theatre, imbued with empathy and pathos

Pieces of Me, the biographical play, written and performed by Bo Petersen is haunting and engrossing biographical theatre. When actor Bo Petersen was 19, she found out that her father had passed for white in Apartheid South Africa, cutting himself off from his extended Coloured family. The process of finding out about her father, was not linear for Petersen as she tried to ferret out information about her father’s past life. It was a life that he had chosen to put a lid on, as he “passed”.

Petersen was urged by an aunt to respect his wishes and to treasure the wonderful memories of her father. It was and remains complicated as Petersen tenderly conveys in her gripping performance, imbued with tremendous empathy and pathos. There is frustration that her father denied her the knowledge of knowing about his life, where he went to school for example. The frustration is tempered by the realisation of how afraid he was of being find out. Everything he had was built on passing as white and that gave him access to career and opportunities that he was denied in Apartheid South Africa. Petersen conjures up the devastation of Apartheid legislated racism with laminated posters, with dates which provides graphic triggers in her story. Dramatically this graphically punches out the ruptures of the lived experiences of her father and his family during the Apartheid regime. I loved the shuffling of the laminated cards on the stage – as markers, stones of memory. It is like a memorial. Lest we forget.

One of the intriguing aspects of this story is that Petersen’s father did not turn his back on the family of his youth. From Pieces of Me, we learn about the pact that the family had with him. They were complicit in his passing. From a distance, they watched his life. They had clandestine meetings. Of course, a quagmire of issues, are pinged in this story. If he passed, so did Petersen and what does that mean? The knowledge about her father irrevocably shifted her life – her craft as an actor, her relationships.

I saw Pieces of Me at FynArts in Hermanus. After FynArts, Pieces of Me was staged on the Fringe at the National Arts Festival, where it received a Standard Bank Ovation Award – for excellence on the Fringe. Seeing Piece of Me at the Baxter and the play has gelled into a compelling synthesis of biography and theatre and makes for an unforgettable and beautiful theatre experience. Do not miss.

Watch my video on TikTok, with insights into Pieces of Me: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMrMAqxhC/ In the 2^nd video, Bo Petersen talks with her cousin Chris Petersen; about their meeting in their late 20s and how on stage in this play, on piano, he is more than accompanist, he is a “piece” of her. They are pieces of each other: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMrMAMohX/

✳ Photos of Bo Petersen by Maggie Gericke.